In order for concrete to harden properly, it is important for it to retain its moisture as long as possible, and then keep additional water out once it has dried. Concrete is typically made from mixtures of cement, water, and aggregates. After mixing the ingredients to form the concrete mixture, the mixture soon starts to harden through a chemical reaction known as hydration. The concrete is laid before the mixture gets too hard, and steps are typically taken to ensure that a minimum amount of flaws due to air pockets occur.
After being laid, it is advantageous for the concrete to retain its moisture for as long as possible to prolong the hydration process; the longer the concrete is kept moist, the stronger and more durable it will become. Techniques are known for treating concrete surfaces with membrane-forming coating compositions to hold the moisture in during curing. Examples of such membrane-forming coating compositions include wax-based compositions, resin-based compositions, sodium silicates, and the like.
It is known that once substantially dry, concrete surfaces are prone to suffer from water damage. This occurs because water penetrates the concrete surface resulting in concrete expansion which leads to cracking, particularly when the water freezes. Techniques are known for treating concrete surfaces with penetrating sealers for protecting the concrete from damage due to water penetration. Examples of the penetrating sealers that can be used include silanes, siloxanes, silicones, linseed oil, and the like.
A standard procedure for treating a concrete surface with both a membrane-forming coating composition and a penetrating sealer is to apply the membrane-forming coating composition to the concrete immediately after the concrete has been laid, and then about 7-28 days later remove the membrane formed from the membrane-forming coating composition using physical and/or chemical removal techniques, and apply the penetrating sealer. This method leaves a lot to be desired in terms of convenience and efficiency. Thus, the problem in the art is to provide for a concrete treating composition that can be sprayed one time, on the same day that the concrete is laid. This invention, in one embodiment, provides a solution to this problem.